Travel and Stress

Travel is an integral part of our lives these days. Sometimes we travel for fun, sometimes for work, and others for necessity. In either case travel can be exhausting, stressful, and leave your body feeling bent out of shape from sitting for too long. Here are some good tips when traveling that will help you to arrive feeling more like yourself and less like a zombie that crawled out of a sardine can.

When possible, every hour or so, get up and stretch and move about. This may be easier on a plane or train than a car, but in a car, you can sop, get out, and breathe the fresh air and move about a little bit more.

Do some simple breathing exercises. Inhale deeply through the nose, hold for a count of 3, out of the mouth slowly and completely. and repeat 4-10 times.

Limit caffeine to lower stress levels. If you’re not the one doing the driving, you could do with the rest.

Chew gum to help with the change in air pressure in flight or going up and down mountains as you change elevation.

Take some Melatonin to reset your Pineal gland. This is best done when you’re going to be in the dark.

Get a massage!

The benefits of massage before and after travel can help you as you embark on your journey.

If you’re able to do before and after it’s best, but at least one or the other will help do the trick. Which is better, you might ask? Well, that depends on you. A massage before departure will help you be at ease during a flight so you can rest better, you’re more limber so you won’t feel as cramped, and you won’t feel as stressed when the kid next to you won’t turn down his game so you can read. On the other hand, if you’ve had a long or stressful journey, you might feel cramped, tense, and misaligned. A massage is just what you need to renew and revitalize so that you can begin your vacation right, be on top of your game at your work conference, or be more supportive of Aunt Sally as she goes through that transition you came to help her with.